SUMMIT COUNTY — While oil and gas companies push for development of new resources, yet another study makes it clear that conservation is an equally important factor in the energy equation.

An all-out energy efficiency effort could help Colorado utilities avoid spending nearly $7 billion constructing and operating power plants, and generate an economic windfall of $4.8 billion for the state, according to Howard Geller, director of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project.

Geller’s organization this week published a new report outlining a step-by-step approach to realizing those savings, showing that every dollar invested in energy efficiency programs returns more than two dollars in savings on business and household utility bills in the southwest. The report is available, along with state-by-state findings, at www.20BillionBonanza.com. Continue reading →

Pat yourselves on the back, Coloradans.A WalletHub survey show that residents of the state's three largest cities — Denver, Aurora and Colorado Springs — are harder workers than most of their peers nationally.